A chain or cyclic ester and an acid anhydride are important compounds as an intermediate of a medicine, a perfume and a dye, a intermediate in organic synthesis, and a raw material of a polymer resin.
A chain ester may be produced by esterification of a carboxylic acid and an alcohol. A lactone may be produced by rearrangement reaction of a cyclic ketone by a peracid.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 38909/1996 (JP-A-8-38909) proposes a process for producing an adipic acid by oxidizing cyclohexanone or cyclohexanol with molecular oxygen in the presence of an oxidation catalyst comprising an imide compound. A process for generating isocoumarin by oxidizing-isochroman with molecular oxygen in the presence of the oxidation catalyst comprising the imide compound is also proposed.
However, a process for producing a corresponding ester or acid anhydride from a chain or cyclic ether by an oxidation with oxygen has been unknown.